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15 posts categorized "Data Analysis"

Thursday, June 30, 2011

How to create a Microsoft Excel Pivot Table lookalike Crosstab with Texts in the Value Area using VBA

The recent post showed a way how to create a Pivot Table lookalike crosstab with texts in the value area.

However, due to the fact that it was restricted to Excel formulas, the approach came with a couple of drawbacks. Using formulas forces you to define the layout and the size of the crosstab in advance in a static structure. It goes without saying that this considerably limits the usability in real life.

Without VBA, there is no way out. However, some VBA helps to overcome almost all of the disadvantages of the formula based approach. Today’s post is the announced follow-up: it describes how to use VBA to emulate a Pivot Table lookalike crosstab with texts in the value area, as always including the Excel workbook for free download.

Monday, June 27, 2011

How to create a Microsoft Excel Pivot Table lookalike Crosstab with Texts in the Value Area using Array Formulas

Pivot Tables are probably the most powerful built-in data analysis feature of Microsoft Excel. With only a couple of mouse clicks, you can summarize and analyze your data from different perspectives. Well, I do not want to carry coals to Newcastle. I am sure you know all about the power of Pivot Tables.

However, there is one thing you can’t do with Pivot Tables: create a cross-tabular view with texts in the value area.

A real-life example should help to understand what I am talking about: Let’s assume you are managing a big project and you have a list of all existing project risks. The table includes the descriptions of the risks and you classified each of them using different categories like the risk impact (high, medium, low), the probability (very high, high, medium, low) and maybe the type of the risk, the subproject or the name of the responsible project member. If it is a large project with a considerable number of risks, you may be interested in a cross-tabular view of your risk list with e.g. the impact in the rows, the probabilities in the columns and maybe the option to filter the view by a third category like the risk type.

At first sight this looks like the perfect use case for Pivot Tables, but a Pivot Table aggregates data, i.e. Pivot Tables always have numerical results in the value area. In other words, all you can show in the value area is the count of risks for each combination. But what if the count is not enough and you prefer seeing the description of all risks for all combinations of impact and probability?

Today’s post is the first of two articles showing how to emulate a Pivot Table with texts in the value area. There are several ways of doing this, but there are 2 general approaches: with or without VBA. Today's article demonstrates a way to achieve this with Excel’s array formulas only. The next article will provide a VBA based solution which overcomes most of the weaknesses of today’s formula based approach.

As usual the post includes an example Excel workbook for free download.

Monday, May 16, 2011

How to sort Microsoft Excel Tables by double clicking on any cell

One of the most basic techniques in data analysis is sorting. And for sure it is one of the most helpful. If you are exploring a large data set for the very first time, I am pretty sure, sorting the data by certain fields is one of the first things you do.

Very often, you do one sort after the other. Let’s say you are looking at a large table of several hundreds of products and all their performance measures, like the unit price, the margin, the order quantities, etc. If you want to get an overview of the product portfolio, what do you need to know in the first step? The most expensive and the cheapest products, the products with the highest margins, the best selling products, etc.

So, what do you do? Sorting, again and again, right?

There is no data analysis or BI tool that doesn’t provide a sorting functionality. However, is it easy and fast to access? And even if it is? Couldn’t it be faster?

Today’s article provides a technique to sort Microsoft Excel tables by simply double clicking on a cell of the data table. As usual, including the workbook for free download.

Agreed, the time savings are humble, but give it a try. I guarantee, chances are high that you will love the feature.

Monday, May 09, 2011

How to simplify the exploration of large Excel tables by showing the entire data record of the active row in additional text boxes

From time to time most of us have to work with very wide tables in Microsoft Excel. Tables with 30, 40 or even more columns, too wide to be visible on your screen at a glance.

When investigating this data, it is often the case that you would like to see some values from columns that do not fit on the screen at the moment. E.g. you would like to see the sales and the profit at a glance, but the columns are so far from each other that they are not visible at the same time.

Sounds familiar? What are you doing? Scrolling back and forth? Hiding and unhiding columns? A second window? Whatever technique you are using, I would assume you are sometimes wishing for something more convenient. A feature that shows the entire data record of the active row without scrolling or any other additional actions.

Today’s post provides such a feature to improve the navigation within wide data tables. Two additional textboxes automatically show the values of the invisible columns for the active row. No additional clicks necessary. Simply navigate through your worksheet and click on any cell in your data table and the textboxes will automatically update without obscuring the active row.

As usual, the article provides the Microsoft Excel workbook for free download.

Monday, May 02, 2011

How to display a Chart in the Tooltips on Microsoft Excel Tables visualizing the selected value within the context of the data distribution

The recent post Tooltips on Microsoft Excel Tables showed a way of how to create tooltips in Microsoft Excel tables displaying additional information on the selected cell / value and some aggregated measures for the data in the active column, like sum, average, standard deviation and others.

If you are particularly interested in setting the selected value into the context of the distribution of the entire data, you may want to have a visualization in your tooltips. In other words a chart as a tooltip on a numeric data table. Sounds like turning the whole tooltip idea and concept upside down, doesn’t it? However, from time to time this can be a great alternative for adding more analytical power to your Excel tables.

Today’s post provides a short tutorial how to create a tooltip displaying a chart. As usual, including the Microsoft Excel workbook for free download.